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Wednesday, August 18, 2010

K2 Concludes, Cho Oyu next, Pakistan in Need

From Stu in the USA office18 Aug, 2010

K2 2010 Concludes

Fabrizio has called us from Skardu to let us know that all is well and he and the rest of the team are now fully out from the field. With that the K2/Broad Peak 2010 expedition is officially at a conclusion. We thank all or staff, guides and members for making it a safe and successful summer and we look forward to 2011 already!

I know Fabrizio will look forward to a few weeks of rest in Kathmandu and Pokhara! He is jealously learing that Chris has already flown to Kathmandu and is gorging on food at restaurants all around Thamel! They will meet up on the 24th in Kathmandu with our local agent and great friend Nima T. Sherpa to prepare the autumn trips.

With the conclusion of the Pakistan trips we turn our attention now to the Cho Oyu expedition starting September 5th and prepare for autumn trips to Ama Dablam, Island Peak, Everest BC, Tharpu Chuli and Cholatse. Even now we are looking farther ahead to Aconcagua and Ecuador trips in Dec, Jan and Feb which are filling up. We have had such a good response to our trips this summer that we already are taking signups for Broad Peak, Nanga Parbat and G2 for 2011 and are considering a return to K2 as well. We are looking very much forward to our 9th straight summer climbing 8000m and 7000m peaks in the Karakoram!

Pakistan in Need

No doubt in 2011 we will return to a country which looks quite different and will still be in the recovery from one of the largest natural disasters it has every experienced. Fabrzio’s news from Skardu included a report on the conditions in Skardu which are very serious. The roads from Islamabad and Gilgit have been closed some 20 days to Skardu and the supply of basic needs is growing more limited each day. He said that the local stores are out of staples like sugar and butter and that meals in the hotel consist mostly of tea and chapattis as this time.

I asked Fabrizio what impact Skardu was feeling with the floods and he answered simply “it’s a disater”. He commented that a small town across from the Concordia hotel had a mudlside claim the lives of 59 people just a few days ago and that the authorities are hustling the travelers back to the relative safety of Islamabad as quickly as they can.

Even though he would like a few days to sort gear and rest, Fabrizio is being asked to get on the next available transport tomorrow to Islamabad. Today’s groups arrived at the airport around 8am and finally flew at 5:30pm so Fabrizio is preparing for a full day in the waiting lounge and has a handful of books ready. This small inconvenience for travelers pales in comparison to the ongoing tragedy in Paksitan and we hope that everyone will visit the UN site immediately and help them reach the crucial goal of quickly raising more than 460million USD to support communities and indivuduals all over Pakistan.

We’ll have more news in the week ahead as we transition from Paksitan to Tibet and Nepal but we will now cease to report on any way we can all help the people in Paksitan to survive the floods and their aftermath.